Why effort itself is a gift
More Than Survival
If all we wanted was survival, our lives would look very different. We would do the minimum to keep our bodies alive, nothing more. But look around: humans sing, paint, invent, fall in love, launch rockets, tend gardens, write stories, raise children, build museums, run marathons, play violins. Clearly, survival is not enough for us.
We don’t only want to endure. We want to try.
And in trying, we discover something larger than just results: we discover abundance. Life overflows with chances to reach, to create, to risk, to love. Some call it profusion, others call it bounty, but the meaning is the same: effort itself is a richness we get to experience.
The act of attempting — even when imperfect, even when uncertain — is one of life’s greatest privileges. To strive toward something beyond survival is how we honor the miracle of existence.
The Overflow of Life
Life overflows. It gives us more possibilities than we can ever use. More books to read, places to travel, songs to sing, friendships to nurture, projects to attempt. To try is to dip into that profusion and taste it.
Imagine standing at a banquet table that stretches farther than you can see. You know you can’t eat it all. But you can sample, savor, delight in what you can. Effort works the same way: each attempt is one more taste of life’s abundance.
The Beauty of Futility
Some of our efforts may seem futile. A child builds a sandcastle that the tide will soon erase. A gardener tends flowers that will wither in autumn. A musician practices scales no one will ever hear.
And yet, these are not wasted. Their beauty lies not in permanence, but in participation. The child, the gardener, the musician all taste the joy of effort, the meaning of engagement.
Trying is beautiful even when the outcome fades.
When Outcomes Fade
We live in a culture obsessed with results: promotions, followers, achievements, wins. And yes, outcomes matter. But if outcomes are all we chase, we miss the quiet miracle of the attempt itself.
Think of a person training for a marathon. Whether or not they finish the race, their months of training already shaped their body and spirit. The race is the milestone, but the trying is the transformation.
Or a painter who fills sketchbooks with studies. Few people see them. Yet they build skill, courage, and expression. The outcome fades; the effort remains.
The Traveler’s Image
Picture a traveler climbing a mountain trail. Every step is effort. The summit matters, but so does the path. The crunch of gravel underfoot, the rhythm of breathing, the sight of light shifting through trees.
If the traveler were lifted instantly to the top, something would be lost. The summit without the trying would be hollow. The journey is what makes the view matter.
So it is with our lives. Trying fills the story with substance.
The Dignity of the Attempt
There is dignity in effort, regardless of outcome. A person who attempts to reconcile with an estranged sibling shows courage, even if the effort fails. A writer who labors over a novel that never gets published still lives with dignity, because they attempted to give voice to what mattered.
Trying itself is an affirmation: my life matters enough to spend it on this.
Practices of Profusion
- Count attempts, not only results. At the end of each week, write down what you tried, whether or not it worked.
- Begin something small. Start a project, even if you doubt it will succeed. Let the effort itself be reward.
- Choose joyful futility. Do something for the sake of beauty or fun, not usefulness. Build the sandcastle. Bake the cake. Sing the song.
- Reframe success. Success is not only reaching the summit. It is walking the trail with presence.
Mortality’s Reminder
We will not finish everything. Our lives will end mid-sentence, with projects undone, books unread, adventures untraveled. Mortality guarantees incompletion.
But that is not tragedy. It is testimony to life’s abundance. There was always more to try. The unfinished pages mean we lived in a world too full for us to exhaust.
Closing Thought
The profusion of trying is the profusion of life itself. Each effort — successful or not — is a way of tasting the banquet, of honoring the gift, of standing in the miracle and saying, I was here, and I tried.
Don’t measure your life only by what you finished. Measure it also by what you dared to begin.
Because in the end, effort is its own abundance. Trying itself is treasure.
